Strangers in Our Mist

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Response to Strangers in Our Midst; Social Injustices Amongst Migrant Workers As I started to read Strangers in Our Midst, the migrants who ‘worked the corner,’ instantly reminded me of a ‘hilarious’ youtube videos that went viral in my hometown; almost every student in my high school had seen it and quoted it incessantly. Ari, crowned the amazing racist’, is a caucasian, Jewish man who makes humorous videos that poke fun at the stereotypes associated with all races. His videos are humorous partly because of pure shock factor. He broaches many ‘touchy’ cultural prejudices; for example, he makes his way into a predominantly black community (I want to say Compton, but don’t quote me on that) in a Klu-Klux-Klan outfit, which, needless to say, gives rise to an enormous amount of friction. Although his bigoted attitude is entertaining, and enjoyed by those of all ages and backgrounds, his ‘playful’ racism undermines local and global prejudices that are overlooked and sometimes even sanctioned within our nation. These prejudices, throughout history, have proven again and again to be problematic and, on both a nationwide and global scale, morally corrupting. One Amazing Racist video that specifically came to mind, was the video called “Mexicans.” Ari picks up “corner workers,” like the ones depicted in Strangers in Our Mist, immigrants who are faced with few job opportunities in America, and thus are forced to wait on the corner for work, day in and day out. You can only imagine how volatile this job would be. Ari tells the immigrants he need help building a deck, and 15 of them run to be the first to hop in the back of his truck. One immigrant tries to sit in the front seat, however Ari refuses to let him; he snobbishly tells the immigrant his car was just detailed. The climax of this two minute video is a rude awakening; Ari tells the ‘beaners’ to get out of the
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